Hope Clark returns for her fifth season at
the helm of the Bobcat soccer program. Clark came to Milledgeville
after three seasons as the head coach of the women’s soccer
program at Auburn University Montgomery.

The 2013 Bobcat soccer campaign produced its second straight
double digit winning season and a winning overall record. GC soccer
finished 10-7-3 with a 5-4-2 conference mark, earning the No.
6-seed in the PBC Tournament. The Bobcats beat No. 3-seed Armstrong
in the first round, and then No. 2-seed Columbus State 2-1 in the
semifinals, the program’s first win against CSU. The Bobcats
then fell during the championship game during a penalty-kick
shootout against the No. 1 seed Clayton State.

In 2012, GC soccer finished 10-8-1 with a 5-5-1 conference mark,
earning the No. 6-seed in the PBC Tournament. The Bobcats fell at
Columbus State in the quarterfinals 3-0, but picked up three wins
over nationally-ranked opponents, and an All-Region honoree during
the season.

During the 2011 season, Clark pushed a young Bobcat team to a
5-14 mark, including a 4-6 record in the conference. The squad made
the PBC Tournament as the No. 8-seed, and battled regular-season
champ Armstrong to a 1-0 loss.

In 2010, the Bobcats went 7-7-3 overall with a 4-4-2 conference
mark, advancing to the PBC Tournament. The year was highlighted
with wins over nationally-ranked teams in #8 Armstrong Atlantic and
#13 Florida Tech.

In her four seasons, Clark has put five players on the All-PBC
Teams, adding five PBC All-Academic honorees. She's also
coached three to
All-Region status. Clark is 67-58-11 overall with a
32-36-7 mark for the Bobcats.

Clark compiled a 35-22-4 mark in her three years at AUM,
including advancing to the second round of the 2009 NAIA National
Championship Tournament. In her three seasons, the Lady Senators
had seven All-Americans, six all-region players and 13 total
all-conference honorees. In 2009, AUM was an impressive 15-5-2,
falling by penalty-kick shootout in the Southern States Athletic
Conference (SSAC) Championship to the eventual 2009 National
Champions. The Lady Senators opened the NAIA National Tournament
with a 5-3 drubbing of Embry-Riddle before falling in the second
round 3-2 to No. 3 California Baptist.

The 2007 Lady Senators, Clark’s first squad as a
collegiate head coach, finished with a strong 14-5-1 record,
advanced to the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament
semifinals and earned a berth in the NAIA regional tournament.
Clark’s 2008 team struggled through a tough regular-season
schedule combined with injuries to finish just 6-12-1, but did
advance to the semifinals of the conference tournament and produced
the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Offensive Player of
the Year, two first-team All-SSAC players and an All-American.

Clark has previously worked in Georgia, where she spent one year
as head coach of varsity boys soccer at Spalding High School. Her
collegiate coaching experience includes two seasons (2002-03) as an
assistant at the University of Tampa, where she was directly
responsible for the training and development of the Spartans’
goalkeepers. In both of her seasons at Tampa, UT’s goalie was
voted second-team all-conference and the 2003 Tampa team reached
the NCAA postseason.

Clark’s first collegiate coaching experience came as an
assistant at American University in Washington, D.C., in 2000-01.
In 2001, Clark’s work with the Eagles’ goalkeeper
helped American earn a Patriot League co-championship and
All-Patriot League and All-Patriot League Tournament honors for the
student-athlete.

Clark spent 2004 through 2006 helping develop some of the top
youth soccer talent in Georgia as a staff coach with the Olympic
Development Program/Georgia Youth Soccer Association. In addition,
she spent 2006 as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for
Glory United Football Club in Hampton, Ga., and 2004 and 2005 as
director of goalkeeping and staff coach for the AFC Lightning
Soccer Club in Fayetteville, Ga.

A native of Louisiana, the former Hope Handley played collegiate
soccer as a goalkeeper at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. She was
a member of VT’s first-ever recruiting class as a freshman in
1994 and lettered all four years at Tech. As a sophomore, Clark was
selected as the Hokies’ most valuable player and named
third-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region following a season in which she
set the Atlantic-10 Conference single-season record for saves with
179. Clark was the first Tech women’s soccer player ever
named All-Mid-Atlantic Region.

Clark played semi-professional soccer in 2005 and 2006 with the
Atlanta Silverbacks in the women’s division of the United
Soccer Leagues. She has been the assistant director of The Last
Defense Goalkeeping Academy and worked with Region 3 Olympic
Development Program on staff. Clark earned her bachelor’s
degree in exercise science and health promotion from Virginia Tech
and her master’s degree in fitness management from American
University.

Clark holds a United States Soccer Federation “B”
license and a National Soccer Coaches Association of America
(NSCAA) Goalkeeping Diploma.

She is married to Richonne Clark, brother of US National Player
Ricardo Clark. Hope and Richonne have a one-year-old girl, Zion.
The Clarks reside in Milledgeville.